David Wessel - Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age

In Only the Rich Can Play, David Wessel masterfully makes policy wonkery into a riveting story. A cautionary tale of good intentions gone bad, it is a must read, from Wall Street to Main Street.

Arthur C. Brooks, professor, Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, and New York Timesbestselling author

David Wessel is a Washington treasure, and anything he writes is a must-read as far as Im concerned. In Only the Rich Can Play, Wessel marries the depth of his understanding of economics with his years of experience as a Washington reporter and his skill at storytelling. He traces the origins of the Opportunity Zone tax break from conception to birth and then shows how it actually works (or not) on the ground. This is both a great read and an important one because it shows those of us outside Washington how things really work there.

Bryan Burrough, coauthor of Barbarians at the Gate and Forget the Alamo

David Wessel has long been one of the keenest observers of the American economy. This book shows his remarkable ability to combine intellectual meat with compelling narrative. Many Silicon Valley moguls are politically clueless, but Sean Parker of Napster and Facebook managed to slip his real estate investment schemeOpportunity Zonesinto law, despite almost no support from traditional thought leaders. You should read this book if you want to understand how to get things done in Washington. You should read this book if you want to understand the most important new urban policy in a generation. You should read this book if you just want to be entertained by a terrific political yarn.

Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University

Vegas, opulent parties, wine-filled dinners. Not since the classic Showdown at Gucci Gulch has tax policy making been this much fun. But look beyond the vivid anecdotes and theres an important and underappreciated story about a program that will cost the federal treasury billions while helping a fraction of the people Congress intended. Wessel weaves together on-the-ground reporting, the best data and evidence, and deep knowledge of the policy process to show how strong moral convictions, vast wealth, and a turbocharged media presence can run up against entrenched special interests and inadequate vetting. The result, as one interviewee says, is a missed opportunity indeed.

Tracy Gordon, Urban Institute

A fascinating and entertainingalbeit at times depressing and infuriatingstory of how a major policy initiative came to be. A lesson in how social policy in America should not be made, but too often is, and an explanation of why the rich always seem to win.

Melissa Kearney, Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics, University of Maryland

If you want to understand how the US has ended up with a tax code that on paper is progressive but in practice is so regressive that the very wealthy pay virtually no tax, Only the Rich Can Play is the place to start. In his wry style, Wessel uses the story of a tax provision dreamed up by a tech billionaire to show what happens when good intentions and arrogance collide with our tax-avoidance-industrial complex.

Paul Romer, New York University, Nobel laureate in Economics

A must-read for anyone who wants to really understand how an idea can in time become a lawwith the help of a large budget, skilled lobbying, and the support of a few key members of Congress. I thought I knew a bit about how Washington works, but I learned an enormous amount from David Wessels very carefully researched and extremely well written book.

David M. Rubenstein, cofounder and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group and author of How to Lead

The real story of the Trump years is one you have never heard. Beneath all the outrage and the hysteria, the same old depressing familiar was chugging along all the time: billionaires designing innovative tax breaks for other billionaires, poor people being used as a moral excuse to cut the taxes of the rich. David Wessel tells us the story in its every glittering detail, and his title might well be the catch-phrase for our era: Only the Rich Can Play.

Thomas Frank, author of Whats the Matter with Kansas? and The People, No

To Bruce, Paul, and Lois, my inspiring siblings